Originally Posted by
colin
as for IPP sentance its the worse thing ever
with no date of ever going home
I disagree (that is my opinion). Essentially the IPP sentencing is a replacement of the age old Pleasure sentence (where people were detained until His/Her Majesty's Pleasure granted them leave).
I don't believe in life-long imprisonment, for many reasons, but from a purely financial viewpoint they are no longer viable in our society, and from a social and psychological perspective they do more harm than good. Therefore the idea of an indeterminate sentence which is focus on public protection to me seems like a good idea.
Yes, the prospect of having no specific release date may be bleak, but is surely better than having no release date at all. The IPP sentencing laws allow the courts to be more flexible with their sentences, saying that they are unsure how long it will take for a specific person to be considered no longer a risk to society, but that they are willing to admit the person will change.
Once that person is in prison they have access to multiple therapies and programmes which can assist them to change their lives and become a better person. As they develop their life skills, they will become less of a risk to society, and more eligible for release, and will also be moved to different category prisons and experience different levels of trust and independence, before being released into the community, hopefully fully rehabilitated.
On the other hand, an individual who shows no signs of repenting for their crimes, and no changes on an individual level, and therefore their risk of re-offending has not been reduced, will remain in prison, until such a time as they can prove they are worthy of release. This seems a preferable option to me to giving someone who is at risk of re-offending a fixed sentence at the end of which you must release them, whether their risk factor has decreased or not. It is because of cases like that that the rates of recidivism remain so high in modern society.
And in response to the OP - I think your initial view that re-offending is due to laziness is uneducated and naive. I would more see re-offending as a failing of society and the system.
In a few, very rare, cases individuals will re-offend due to what may be seen as laziness, however this is more likely to be re-offending due to not having the skills to survive in the real world. If someone has been in prison for several years and is released into society and expected to get a job and earn money to live, it can be extremely scary and difficult for them. How many people are willing to hire people with previous convictions and who have served time in jail, if there is another candidate for the job? How many people want to rent a flat/house to someone who has served jail time for theft?
In addition to the financial and practical aspects of re-entering society, there is also the social aspect to consider. A lot of people who have served time will have been cut off by friends and family, and will lack the support mechanisms which they will be sorely in need of in order to make their rehabilitation in society successful.
As it stands currently (definitely in the UK, but also I believe in other countries) the process of rehabilitation into society relies almost solely on charitable organisations. The prison services are now introducing courses to prepare people for re-entering society, but for many these are not sufficient, or are inappropriate to their specific needs. However once they are released from the prison itself, the government has very little to do with them in terms of aiding them become functioning members of society again.
So can you imagine (and you have said you spent time in prison) having to come out of prison, with no one to help you, no where to live, no means of getting a job, and not having the skills with which to help yourself? Even I might feel like re-offending if that were the case - and I would not consider myself a lazy person, nor one who takes the easy option.
